We're building a house right now, and it's almost done. We're putting a 50 inch plasma above the fireplace and the builders have built in a conduit from above the fireplace over to the corner of the room.

Should I have the TV installed (hung above the fireplace) before DirecTV comes, or vice versa?

DirecTV says TV first, but if I do that, they wont be able to run the wires through the conduit.

Am i over thinking this? Anyone been in similar situations?

2/16/2011 1:03:40 PM

1) I hate TVs above the fireplace due to viewing angle but I'll digress on that subject ...

2) By installed they just mean they don't want you having to assemble stuff or do all kinds of prep work that holds their guy up. I just had Dish installed in our house a week ago and our TV was already mounted on the wall (been in the house for almost a year and just switched to Dish). The installer thanked me several times for having the TV off the wall and the covers taken off my wire management system. All he had to do was help me put the TV back up on the wall and he didn't mind at all.

However, I will say that the only reason I did this was because I wasn't 100% sure what output my box would have (I was afraid it would be composite). Turned out it was HDMI so I didn't really need to take the TV off the wall anyway since I already had extra HDMI cables running down to my shelves.

My suggestion would be to try and find out what cables they will be connecting to your TV. If it is HDMI, just go ahead and hook up all the HDMI cables you can to the back of your TV, mount the TV, and just have the open end of the HDMI cable waiting for the box to get hooked up. (Same if you know it is coaxial or composite and happen to have the cables around).

If you don't know what they will be or it is composite and you don't have the right cables hanging around, go ahead and get the mount on the wall and everything setup that you possibly can and just leave the TV leaning against the couch or whatever so you can plug the appropriate cables into the back of it and then put it on the wall.

I didn't have to worry about the conduit though since mine is setup like:



So, your results/decisions may be different than mine. How far away is this conduit having to run? If it is a long way, is there no way they could run more of it behind the wall since they are buidling this? (Or did you mean conduit behind the wall in the first place and not stuff on the surface of the drywall).

[Edited on February 16, 2011 at 1:15 PM. Reason : .]

2/16/2011 1:10:54 PM

^ much appreciated.

It's a conduit that's going 5-10 feet. So, you're saying that I should have them set up the TV, but not actually hang the TV yet in order for DTV do get their shit done?

In regards to the cables/connections, I have no idea what they would be using, so I'm no help there.

2/16/2011 1:23:15 PM

First, when I said "composite" I think I really meant "component," that was my bad. (Just to clear that up)

For me, whenever I mount a TV, I go ahead and fill all the "rear" HDMI ports with HDMI cables even if I only need to use 1 for now. That way, in the future they are all just waiting for me conveniently if I want to add a device (PS3, sound system, whatever). If there is a chance that it is not an HDMI cable though (if the box isn't DVR, some of these companies' HD boxes just have the component cables), it might be best to not have the TV on the wall when they get there.

By that I mean:

Lock the mounting bracket down to the wall (use a real level, not a free one coming with a mount). Attach the mounting hooks to the back of the TV. Hook up all HDMI cables to the back of the TV. Then you have two options:

A) just don't actually hang the TV off of the mounting bracket yet. Leave it down, then you guys can hook whatever cables you need to the back of the TV and then it is as easy as lifting the TV and placing the hooks onto the mounting bracket.

or

B) Take your chances that it is an HDMI output from their box. Hang the TV on the wall. If it is HDMI, you should already have available HDMI cables hanging/run somewhere for them to use. If it is not, it is easy to just lift the TV off the mount (w/ 2 people) and bring it down to the ground to hook up their cables and then put it back on the wall.

The problem here is that I don't know exactly what your setup will be. Is it going to be a PITA to add new cables to their conduit when they are done? What will the conduit be running to?

Are they bringing a coaxial cable through that conduit all the way to some shelf near the TV with the DTV box? And then the box has a short run to the TV?

Or are you expecting the box to be sitting 10' away from the TV and they are going to run their wires all the way through the conduit to your TV? Because they might not have cables that long on them.

[Edited on February 16, 2011 at 1:41 PM. Reason : .]

2/16/2011 1:37:31 PM

Go to monoprice and buy cables to fill the conduit. Like CTA said, go ahead and put in the maximum number of HDMI cables that your TV has inputs for. I would go ahead and run a coaxial, composite, and any other cable that your peripherals use. The cables at monoprice do not cost much and will save you the hassle of taking everything down to rewire if you get any new devices. If you have all of these cables ran and pulled, the installer will be in and out pretty quickly. I would go ahead and request that they bring an HDMI box.

2/16/2011 2:30:14 PM

^ do that.

Get monoprice cables for every input/output on your tv. Run them through the conduit and hook them up to the TV and mount it. Then any time you need to plug in anything new you already have all the cables run.

2/16/2011 2:37:16 PM

thirded on the monoprice. I never find prices better than them for quality audio/video related components.

2/16/2011 2:46:31 PM

temporary thread hijack: how long does it typically take for stuff from monoprice to be delivered? it's been forever since they allegedly shipped it & there's no tracking # available.

2/16/2011 2:48:20 PM

I think a week or so. It definitely isn't as fast as some places. I usually leave at least 5 business days from the time I order for them.

2/16/2011 2:49:14 PM

They ship USPS so its gonna be anywhere from a day to 2 weeks. Also the lack of tracking data is a USPS thing, not a monoprice thing. But dont worry, even if you had the tracking number, USPS tracking data is never up to date/correct.

[Edited on February 16, 2011 at 2:54 PM. Reason : ,]

2/16/2011 2:53:59 PM